Obama

Romney / AP

What if you looked around your neighborhood, or around Greater Cincinnati, and asked simply: What do we need?

The Enquirer is asking readers to tell us what Ohio and this region needs most and then examining how the presidential candidates can help.

Have a suggestion? Email Government/Public Affairs editor Carl Weiser at cweiser@enquirer.com. Or send him a letter at 312 Elm St., Cincinnati, OH 45202.

Michael Bruno of Anderson Township asks: With the economy as it is,

we need to quit thinking about ME! What is good for the country?

The replacement of the Brent Spence Bridge. That is for the good of us all.

Barack Obama

The Brent Spence Bridge project is at least on President Barack Obama’s radar, considering he chose the bridge as the backdrop to promote his jobs plan in Cincinnati last September.

Obama has done little to advance the $2.4 billion project, though, despite its being part of the nation’s busiest freight corridor, Interstate 75. If re-elected, the Obama administration has given no indication it will allocate the needed funds to complete the project.

Beyond the $3.34 million grant funding the Federal Highway Administration awarded to Kentucky for the project earlier this month, there has been no other federal funding specifically made available for the bridge. And the new, two-year transportation bill passed in June called for just $500 million to fund projects of national and regional significance for fiscal year 2013 – an amount that, even if fully designated to the Brent Spence Bridge project, would cover just 21 percent of the price tag.

Nonetheless, there is a provision in the transportation bill calling for the establishment of a national freight strategy, an indication the Obama administration might place higher importance on projects like the Brent Spence Bridge in a future transportation bill. For now, though, Obama’s transportation funding centers mostly on a nationwide build-out of high-speed rail and fixing existing infrastructure.

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney has rarely discussed transportation infrastructure on the campaign trail, with the exception of saying he plans to cut Amtrak spending if elected. And considering Romney’s track record and choice of running mate, all indications are the Republican would not place a high priority on the Brent Spence Bridge project.

As Governor of Massachusetts, Romney was considered a moderate on transportation spending. Some of his policies have been compared to Obama’s, including a strategy that focused more on fixing existing infrastructure rather than expansion and new construction.

But Romney has indicated he will follow his budget-hawk vice presidential candidate’s lead on transportation spending. Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan once voted against 12 of the 13 transportation bills introduced in the House over a two-year period. As chairman of the House budget committee, he has criticized the Obama administration for wasteful spending and in his 2013 fiscal budget has proposed to cut transportation spending by 25 percent, according to a Washington Post analysis.

Ryan’s plan calls for federal motor-fuels tax revenues to support mostly transportation funding. That plan doesn’t favor the construction of massive new projects like the Brent Spence Bridge replacement. A reason traditional federal funding is not guaranteed for the project is because gas-tax revenues have been lagging in recent years.